After-school Program

The school day is only four hours long in Guatemala and the majority of primary age children attend school in the morning. During the school year, then, much of the activity at Open Windows takes place in the afternoon.

At least that was the case until the pandemic hit. For most of 2020 and 2021 both the schools and the Open Windows learning center were closed to the children. The teachers at Open Windows used that time to create video lessons on YouTube, providing more than 250 videos in reading, math, science and social science. The videos could not replace the classroom experience, but they did offer children a way to continue learning.

In 2023 things are pretty much back to normal. The primary schools in San Miguel Dueñas are fully open and so the primary school students again come to the learning center in the afternoon. We have also resumed offering snacks to the children, something the short homework periods during the pandemic did not allow. And we have eliminated the social distancing requirements, giving all children more opportunity to be at the libary.

The one area where our activity continued unabated even during the pandemic involves the reinforcement sessions held between November and the first week in December. These are designed to ensure that children do not forget what they were taught during the year and to get them ready for the next school year. At the end of these sessions, the older youth take tests which determine which of them will be offered scholarships to continue their education into junior high, high school or university. With the help of the reinforcement sessions and some generous donors, we have been able to increase the number of scholarships in 2023 and are hoping to continue expanding in the future.